Abstract

Distributional performance has been described as an important topic to be considered in fishery management as it encompasses how the incomes, benefits and costs spreads between the different agents involved in an activity or manage-ment strategy (Clay et al. 2014). It has been stated as an important aspect to be analyzed in cases like marine protected areas (Sumaila and Armstrong 2006), consolidation of the quota/licenses (Clay et al. 2014, Bellanger et al. 2016), and as part of the social justice (World Bank 2013, Klain, et al. 2014). It has been identified as a factor capable of disturb the outcomes of management schemes (Guyader and Thébaud 2001, Sumaila 2010, Thébaud et al. 2012, Clay et al. 2014), and even can affect the fishery governance (Bundy et al. 2008, Allison et al. 2011).Recently, the first distributional performance of a TURF scheme fishery was assessed. Villanueva et al. (2017) applied inequality metrics to the fishing benefits of the recognized highly successfully small-scale lobster fishery of Punta Allen, Mexico (Schlager and Ostrom 1992). In this evaluation, Gini index G was applied to the fishing benefits achieved by individual lobster fishing grounds holders. The results presented low Gini values (0.387 ± 0.017) and a stable trend in the seven lobster seasons analyzed. Although the G index of the resource rent among campo owners had the highest value, there were no statistically significant differences in the resource rent earned by age groups of campo owners, indicating a form of intergenerational equity. Nevertheless, although G index gives general information about the income distribution, more valuable knowledge can be inferred by knowing more precisely information about the gap between the higher and lower levels of the income distribution. Therefore, the aim of this work is to inquire more into the benefits gap in the Punta Allen lobster fishery.

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